Bees swarm family in Chautauqua Park

What was intended to be a family photo shoot turned into a sting operation when a Fairfield family unknowingly stirred up a swarm of bees at Chautauqua Park.

Austin Lisk, the 7-year-old son of Shawn and Summer Lisk, was stung as many as 50 times Wednesday while being photographed with his five cousins.

?Our granddaughter from Texas was here so we thought it was a good opportunity to get family pictures taken while everyone was together,? Austin?s grandmother, Melanie Lisk said.

Photographer Niki Gilchrist took the family around the park to various locations, shooting different poses of the family. The grandchildren were near the woods by the old playground in the northwest quadrant of the park when the incident occurred.

Melanie Lisk said her grandchildren were lining up for a photo near a large, partially decayed tree stump the shape of a horseshoe. Melanie Lisk?s oldest grandson, Cade, picked his cousin, Austin, up and stood him on the stump. Almost immediately, Austin started screaming.

?Austin started screaming, and we realized what was happening,? Melanie Lisk said. ?I yelled to Cade to get him down, which he did. They were running toward me as I ran toward him. The bees were swarming all over, mostly on Austin. I was trying to swat them away from him and get them off.

?You would have thought we were in a war zone the way we were running out of there,? Melanie Lisk said.

While it is impossible to say with certainty, Melanie Lisk said the family believes Austin sustained as many as 100 stings. Cade, son of Shane and Barb Lisk, was stung approximately 20 times. Melanie Lisk had five stings and Austin?s twin sister, Ashlyn, was stung twice.

?We actually were lucky it wasn?t worse than it was,? Melanie Lisk said. ?Miraculously, the other kids did not get stung.?

Austin was taken to Jefferson County Health Center where he was treated with Benadryl and Tylenol and released. He is still swollen in places today.

?The bees stung his lip several times, and his lip is still three times the size it should be,? Melanie Lisk said.

Fairfield Park Superintendent Pam Craff said park workers went to treat the stump but the bees were gone.

?That?s how they seem to work. You stir them up and they move,? Craff said. ?Once you disturb them, they just disappear.?

Characterizing bees as a ?fairly common problem,? Craff said bee colonies often inhabit wood mulch and sand in the park.

?We?ve always had bee problems,? said Craff.

Craff said many park users already report bee problems, but urged all patrons to notify the park department or the park and recreation department to report significant numbers of bees in the park.

?We aren?t in the playgrounds every day so it?s difficult for us to know when the bees are there and when they are not,? Craff said. ?Obviously, we don?t want people being stung. We always want to be contacted about this.?

To report bees in the park, call 472-2693 or 472-6159.

?If we know about it, we can go out and spray,? she said. ?We don?t want anyone else to be stung.?